Who doesn’t love the chill, nostalgic sound of yesteryear? Among the most popular analog low-fi effects are vinyl and tape emulation. For digital low-fi, there’s bitcrushing.
Sometimes you just need that 8-bit Nintendo vibe. Luckily, there are some great free chiptune soft synths to get you started. Mario would be proud.
Two of my favorite free, rhythmic envelope shapers / trance gates and filter modulation plugins.
“Drum audio vomit.” Thanks to Venus Theory for calling out these two free tools, especially as a complimentary duo. Note these are not VST plugins, but standalone programs.
There isn’t much more I could say about these than what Venus Theory already covered in his awesome video, so best to just watch that first (above), if you haven’t already.
Some say Vital is the “Serum killer,” but I think the two can coexist peacefully. There’s a free, entry-level option that will probably get you mostly sorted, but if you want some cool additional features and to support the developer, Matt Tytel, then consider a subscription for one of the paid tiers.